“On one level, I am a massive joker and can’t take anything seriously, but on the other hand, I’m incredibly serious and a deep thinker, so I have that dichotomy within me.”
― Shura
“Sometimes we feel like we’re only interacting with what’s already happening; we don’t actually affect anything – sometimes I feel like that, anyway.”
― Shura
“I’ve had relationships before where you break up, and you think you’re going to die, and then you realise you’re definitely not going to die, and actually, you’re probably better off without them.”
― Shura
“I made the decision that I could either go outside in the freezing cold in the wind and rain and get muddy or just stay inside and be a rock star.”
― Shura
“It is important that you’re out, and it is important that you’re visible.”
― Shura
“When you have a lot of gay friends, you don’t think of that as being different or divisive or weird; that’s just your reality.”
― Shura
“I’d written songs since I was 16, but I never thought that I would be a musician full time.”
― Shura
“The best thing you can do is having to say no to putting out something that’s good, because everything else is better.”
― Shura
“I love camping, everything about it – tents, the camping stove, sleeping bags. I’m obsessed with technology, be it synthesizers and speakers or tents and Gore-Tex.”
― Shura
“Being part of a crowd and not standing out is way more frightening than being the person that stands out.”
― Shura
“I didn’t fit in on my football team; I was always the odd one out.”
― Shura
“You have to make sure you love what you do more than anything.”
― Shura
“I was obsessed with ‘The Lion King’ as a kid, and I really wanted to go work in an animal sanctuary and have my Lara Croft moment.”
― Shura
“I’m a lesbian. That’s how I identify myself, but I think there’s a massive spectrum for everyone.”
― Shura
“I love scarves and hats and coats. I love it.”
― Shura
“I started playing when I was about 13, mainly because Dad had guitars lying around the house. My dad taught me my first three chords, and I taught myself from there.”
― Shura
“The first time I shared music was on Myspace. Then SoundCloud came along. The difference with SoundCloud is that people can comment on stuff, which was more frightening but also way more fun – especially if they liked it.”
― Shura
“I love PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Pixies, Portishead, and Massive Attack: a lot of what I would describe as alternative and indie music.”
― Shura
“I don’t care about how many records I sell, but the main thing is people like it.”
― Shura
“If you told teenage me that I would end up supporting Tegan and Sara for a month in North America, my head would have probably exploded.”
― Shura
“You have to challenge yourself about the choices you make as an artist.”
― Shura
“Is the mainstream becoming more queer? Or is it the opposite? That artists like me are mainstreaming queer music?”
― Shura
“Do stuff that is true to your own experiences.”
― Shura
“I’m a bit of a geek: I just love being able to play with dials and buttons.”
― Shura
“When I wasn’t working, I was learning how to use production software on YouTube and making music.”
― Shura
“I felt that pop music didn’t represent me. And that’s why I made my own.”
― Shura
“I’m massively inspired by Janet Jackson, and I adore Whitney Houston and Madonna.”
― Shura
“I found my own voice slowly. I don’t do big tricks like Mariah Carey, so I’ve found this weird way of singing that works for me.”
― Shura
“I’m actually really impressed with everyone at Polydor.”
― Shura
“I didn’t really want anyone to know that I wanted to write music or make songs because, in a way, I didn’t necessarily know if I wanted to do it for a profession. I wanted to do it to express myself.”
― Shura
“As I grew in confidence, I was able to come out and say that I’m a musician.”
― Shura
“’Nothing’s Real’ is about my first-ever panic attack, which I had about four months after getting my record deal.”
― Shura
“Someone will say, ‘Shura’s album is about being a gay woman in London.’ Umm, I feel like my album’s just about me. I am a gay woman, and I live in London… It’s not about being a gay woman in London.”
― Shura
“I’m massively inspired by ‘True Blue’-era Madonna, but she is absolutely confident and in control of the situation.”
― Shura
“Perhaps a young boy or girl, after watching my video, can go, ‘Maybe I don’t have to be embarrassed. Maybe I can come out at school, maybe I can tell my best friend… and maybe I don’t have to be afraid anymore.’”
― Shura
“A lot of people start by learning other people’s songs, but the idea of singing someone else’s music didn’t excite me. I just wanted to write my own. It was really bad to begin with. It’s improved slightly since.”
― Shura
“With ‘White Light,’ I had just finished watching ‘Under the Skin’ and was really obsessed with the idea of science fiction presented as normality.”
― Shura
“Some of the best songs are love songs. They’re things that we all go through, and when we’re going through it, we think that we’re the only person in the world going through that. Having that music there sort of reminds you that you’re not alone. It happens to me, too, as a music fan.”
― Shura
“I’m not one of those artists that can go away for six months and tour America and have 20 producers back in London or L.A. doing everything for me and I just come home and sing on it. It would be really useful, in terms of speed, to work like that. I just wouldn’t find it creatively satisfying. I have to have my hand on the remote control.”
― Shura
“There’s something about rhythm and bass sections generally, how the bass and drums interact, that’s basically the soul of any song.”
― Shura
“It’s probably the first type of music we had, rhythm, whether it’s poetry or tapping.”
― Shura
“In London, I used to play ‘Boys of Summer,’ but it didn’t feel right, because it doesn’t apply to your surroundings, to the weather. I remember being in L.A. and listening to that record and going, ‘Oh, I get it now.’”
― Shura
“I love being in the studio.”
― Shura
“From collaborating with other people, you make concessions, and those concessions are great because sometimes you are definitely wrong.”
― Shura
“My dad used to do a lot of music when he was young, so he had an 8-track MiniDisc recorder, and when he realized that I was getting on with it, he brought it upstairs to my room and showed me how to record and how, once you finished eight tracks, you can cut it down to two and have another six tracks to play with.”
― Shura
“It’s really weird when you realize the people you look up to – who have influenced or inspired you – start to realize what you do.”
― Shura
“I don’t hate my voice. I’m just not an Adele.”
― Shura
“A lot of people think I popped out of some pink cloud fully formed, ready for action, but I’ve been putting songs on SoundCloud since I was 16. Five people would listen and like them. I never had any expectations for myself.”
― Shura
“After putting out songs with 26 million views on YouTube, your life changes a little bit. Suddenly everyone’s like, ‘Where’s the album?’”
― Shura
“I got this advice that if you know a panic attack is happening, just sit back and go, ‘Okay, this is happening to me, but it’ll be over. You’ll be fine. You’ll live.’”
― Shura
“If I fancy someone but can’t tell them because I’m shy, I’ll think, ‘It’s fine. You’re not going to die. Maybe just tell them or whatever.’”
― Shura
“I want to explore my boundaries. I want to push myself and go right to the edge of what I am capable of. I don’t want to ever be comfortable.”
― Shura
“It was never like I had to go, ‘I am gay.’ Slowly, almost by osmosis, by the way I was behaving, it became obvious and accepted.”
― Shura
“For me, one song is not enough to be in a person’s world. I need to be in their world for 40 minutes; I want to fully experience it and immerse myself.”
― Shura
“I worked in a post-production facility for television, but in the machine room, so I was one of the nerds, essentially – making sure everyone had their footage in and all of that stuff.”
― Shura
“It’s strange: I love pop music, and I really can enjoy it, but I didn’t feel like the characters within pop music – like when Madonna sings ‘Crazy For You’, for instance, I don’t feel like I would ever be the character she takes on in that song. I would never feel… I don’t have that confidence in me.”
― Shura
“Producing albums is 100 per cent where I would love to be, later in my career.”
― Shura
“I read interviews saying women can bring a femininity to a song, a delicacy, but some women make really aggressive music.”
― Shura
“’What’s It Gonna Be?’ is about having a massive crush on someone, so it made sense to go back where – to school, where it all began. But it was important for us to explore those archetypal characters – The Jock, The Nerd, The Dork, The Popular Kid – and then flip expectations.”
― Shura
“Whilst the Internet is amazing, someone with a laptop can make something amazing and send it out, but you grow up creatively in a very public way.”
― Shura
“I think it’s much harder now with the Internet to hone anything. It’s easy to share things: you do one track, and it goes on Hype Machine; people are being exposed a lot earlier.”
― Shura
“I’m 23, and if I wanted to release a record when I was 17, I could have released a record, but I’m really glad I didn’t.”
― Shura
“To go from someone who would put something on SoundCloud and maybe get 15,000 plays in a year to getting 100,000 plays in one day felt very weird. I thought I was dying.”
― Shura
“I’m really freaked out by time. How, for instance, what I did last week is not real in the sense that it’s happened. It’s just a memory that’s filed away in my brain.”
― Shura
“I know I don’t suck at being me. I’m really good at being me.”
― Shura
“There’s a part of me that’s ambitious.”
― Shura
“I’ve tried writing darker, more serious songs, but they don’t go anywhere. Everything revolves around the chorus for me.”
― Shura
“I think there’s something antagonistic about bedroom pop. We’re reappropriating pop and saying you don’t have to be an ex-Disney star to make pop music. You can be from Shepherd’s Bush and have spent most of your life listening to the Smiths and still make a pop record.”
― Shura
“I take inspiration from so many places. I think, more than anything, it would have to be the music made by others that I’ve then fallen in love with, whether it’s Madonna, Blood Orange, Fleetwood Mac, or Pink Floyd!”
― Shura
“I’d love to sing with so many people, but my biggest dream would be to sing on a record with The National.”
― Shura
“It’s just as important – if not more important – to take the praise with a pinch of salt, just as you do the criticism.”
― Shura
“Pop music for introverts is an idea I wanted to explore.”
― Shura
“Pop should be weird, and I realize as I say this that I’m not the weirdest person in the world. But if that means a girl sounding like Kylie Minogue and looking like Kurt Cobain, then so be it.”
― Shura
“The hardest thing is having to do selfies even when you’re on your period and you’re queuing at Superdrug to get ibuprofen. That’s when I’m like, ‘You know what? I don’t feel like Shura today.’”
― Shura
“I couldn’t be a Taylor Swift. I would really suck at being Taylor Swift.”
― Shura
“I suffer from imposter syndrome all the time. Even if I’m just at a party, I’m thinking people are going to find out that I’m really boring.”
― Shura
“There are two ways of dealing with being odd. One is to really try and conform, and the other is to do the opposite and really make a thing out of it. At school, it wasn’t that I was bullied, but everyone was very aware that I was different. I was kind of the token weird person that people accepted into their group, almost like an accessory.”
― Shura
“People like Prince or Madonna, they’re kind of superhuman. You can’t imagine them burning their toast, and there’s something really exciting about that.”
― Shura
Leave a Reply